OMG!!! the motor starter cord SNAPPED!!!

[Jackie]

Alright...so we started with a nice sunny day of fishing on lake Dalrymple after all those crazy freezing WET AND COLD weather. Targeting species: anything that bites...well of course not bass or other Off season fish. Launch the boat at 8am, everything works smoothly. Get to our first fishing spot, throw a couple cast with a little deep crank, and BOOM...thought its gonna be a HUGE walley...get the net ready, gloves ready...damn ended up with an ugly pike...stinky, sticky as usual. What's even worse was that it left me with some gooey yellow stink crap hanging on my trolling motor...well thanks for being my first catch of the day ...so released the fish. Couple minutes later...sigh again, another pike...try to loose the line give it some slacks hoping it will free itself...unfortunately, it didn't ended doing so. Rather, it ended up wrapping around the line and hook himself onto the another hook... great.... Brought it up, unhook release...literally took me 10 minutes just to do all that...Alright move on hoping to catch some crappies with little jig (no floater). Couple cast, jig it jig it hook into a nice 13" slab. Reel it in and put it back. Thought there will be a group of them there so we stay. But again...ended up hooking into another pike...Jesus...what else is there??? Alright move to another spot, crank it up again with a deep diving crankbait hoping to get some walley...couple minutes after...OMG...not again...another PIKE!!! WTH!!!!So for the rest of the day...pike...pike...pike...pike...and PIKE!!!...well I guess I should be happy because I am catching fish...

 

SO after all that we decided to head home, give the motor a pull...oh GOD...NO WAY...the cord SNAPPED!!!! WHAT THE HELL !...didn't know I was that strong .......popped the hood try to fix it...no luck. So ended up using the trolling motor to get home. Luckily the wind was blowing EAST...or else will be stuck on the other side of the lake for couple more hours...So it took us 1 hour and half to get home when it supposed to be a 10min ride with the 20hp Mercury...Well I am happy that I made it home!!!THANK GOD!!!

 

And now I am stuck with the broken cord...NEED SOME HELP GUYS!!Is possible to replace the cord myself and How?? How much would it cost to fix it in the shop?

 

Any information and suggestion will be APPRECIATED!!!

 

 

 

Thank you,

Jackie

[Gerritt]

Alway carry a spare piece of rope with a top tied to one end.. Some motors even come with an emergency pull rope under the cowling.

[Gerritt]

and it is VERY simple to fix yourself

[Jackie]

and it is VERY simple to fix yourself

 

 

Thanks for the advise

do you have any information on how to fix it? and what the procedures may be?

[mbac31]

Jackie,

When I get back on Tuesday. I will come over and fix it for free for you. Very easy fix. Just go to Crappy Tire or a Marina and buy 6 ft of that type of pull cord and I will have it all done in about 15 minutes. Call me on my cell on Monday evening

[ciceri]

Holy crappie, that is massive. What's the sizing on that bad boy?

[Cudz]

undo the handle. take out the rope that is tied into it. Go to store buy new rope. Put one end of rope into handle and close up handle. Take flywheel and load it up keep turning it tight so the spring is wound, then insert other end with know tied to the end onto flywheel ( this can be tricky to do I will use a screwdriver to hold flywheel in place so it doesn't spin). once rope is on flywheel, slowly allow flywheel to spin in the opposite direction you turned it. This should be making the pull cord shorter as it winds itself around flywheel.

It is not that difficult but it might take you a couple tries to get it right.

 

I have started my engine on the water without a pull cord. You can use any string you have. I have used anchor rope. Take off cowl. tie knot in one end of string. Place knot in groove on the fly wheel. Wrap rope, string or whatever you have a few times around flywheel and then pull hard. might take a few tries.

[Jackie]

Jackie,

When I get back on Tuesday. I will come over and fix it for free for you. Very easy fix. Just go to Crappy Tire or a Marina and buy 6 ft of that type of pull cord and I will have it all done in about 15 minutes. Call me on my cell on Monday evening

 

 

haha "crappy tire" LOL...alright THANK YOU SO MUCH BUDDY!!! I will give you a call on Monday eve.

[Jackie]

Holy crappie, that is massive. What's the sizing on that bad boy?

 

 

a little bit over 13"

[Jackie]

undo the handle. take out the rope that is tied into it. Go to store buy new rope. Put one end of rope into handle and close up handle. Take flywheel and load it up keep turning it tight so the spring is wound, then insert other end with know tied to the end onto flywheel ( this can be tricky to do I will use a screwdriver to hold flywheel in place so it doesn't spin). once rope is on flywheel, slowly allow flywheel to spin in the opposite direction you turned it. This should be making the pull cord shorter as it winds itself around flywheel.

It is not that difficult but it might take you a couple tries to get it right.

 

I have started my engine on the water without a pull cord. You can use any string you have. I have used anchor rope. Take off cowl. tie knot in one end of string. Place knot in groove on the fly wheel. Wrap rope, string or whatever you have a few times around flywheel and then pull hard. might take a few tries.

 

 

THANKS for the info Cudz!!! I am gonna give it a try...if it doesn't work then I might have to call my bud Smalliefisher (such a nice guy)!!

I was thinking of doing the samething as you said on the water...but I have never done it before, so I was afraid of loosing parts like dropping screws or nuts into the water and causing more damage to the motor,...so i didn't want to risk it...But I am going to learn how to fix it right now. And if that happen again, i can fix it on the water.

[Cudz]

I had the same problem on a 20hp merc. When the spring gets old the cord manages to slip under where it should be feeding and there are these razor sharp metal pieces that cut the rope almost instantly. Make sure you really wind up the spring by turning the flywheel before tying the string on. I have done the fix on the water and it is a PITA. I also dropped something in the water from the motor and it made a big kerplunk sound and I still to this day have no idea what that piece was. Must not have been important.

[Jackie]

I had the same problem on a 20hp merc. When the spring gets old the cord manages to slip under where it should be feeding and there are these razor sharp metal pieces that cut the rope almost instantly. Make sure you really wind up the spring by turning the flywheel before tying the string on. I have done the fix on the water and it is a PITA. I also dropped something in the water from the motor and it made a big kerplunk sound and I still to this day have no idea what that piece was. Must not have been important.

 

 

yea i think that's what happen to my cord...i see a lot of fabric pieces around the motor...I was thinking of replacing the rope before...but was too lazy to do so. Well i guess i learned my lesson this time. So next time when i start seeing these little pieces of fabric...i know it's time to replace it.

 

LOL I am too chicken to loose any parts of the motor like how you did LOL! SO I decided not to do any risky surgery to the motor on the water. But it's good to know that your motor is still working without the part you dropped in the water. If that happens to me...I won't be so calm LOL

 

But yea, thanks again for the advise!!!I hope I can get it fix soon so I don't miss this coming week's warm and sunny days! Perfect weather to be out there fishing! can't afford to miss it!!! lol

[JohnF]

undo the handle. take out the rope that is tied into it. Go to store buy new rope. Put one end of rope into handle and close up handle. Take flywheel and load it up keep turning it tight so the spring is wound, then insert other end with know tied to the end onto flywheel ( this can be tricky to do I will use a screwdriver to hold flywheel in place so it doesn't spin). once rope is on flywheel, slowly allow flywheel to spin in the opposite direction you turned it. This should be making the pull cord shorter as it winds itself around flywheel.

It is not that difficult but it might take you a couple tries to get it right.

 

I have started my engine on the water without a pull cord. You can use any string you have. I have used anchor rope. Take off cowl. tie knot in one end of string. Place knot in groove on the fly wheel. Wrap rope, string or whatever you have a few times around flywheel and then pull hard. might take a few tries.

 

With some recoils I've found it easier to attach the rope to the flywheel first then leaving the handle end tucked into the flywheel wind on some spring tension. When you feel enough tension on the spring ease it back the other way guiding the rope end with a screwdriver or awl out the opening. Pull out some rope and tie a big fat slipknot to keep it from being wound back in. Attach the rope handle. undo the holding knot and let the rope rewind. Hopefully there will be the right amount of tension to keep the rope from flopping loosely and to allow a good full pull on the starter rope.

 

One tip. If you're using a nylon rope (that's what we always used with sleds and lawn mowers) use a match or lighter to shape the end to avoid fraying and to make it easier to feed thru the holes etc.

 

JF

[Twocoda]

cordless drill loaded with the appropriate sized socket and pull the trigger ....

[cityfisher]

nice fish!

 

Cord snapping happens , easy fix , ive seen it once to my buddys sled, luckly we could tow him back to the cottage